Character List

Athos A dog that belonged to Bloom's father, Rudolph. In his suicide note, the senior Bloom asked Bloom to care for the animal. Athos corresponds to Odysseus's Argos, the faithful dog who waited for his master's return; after Odysseus returned, the dog died.

Alec Bannon Bannon, part of Buck Mulligan's circle, met Milly Bloom, Bloom's 15-year-old daughter, after Bloom sent her away to Mullingar to study photography in order to get her out of the house during the affair of Boylan and Molly. Bannon appears with Mulligan at Dr. Horne's hospital in "The Oxen of the Sun" and discusses Milly.

Richard Irvine Best Best was assistant director (and then director after 1904) of Dublin's National Library and appears in "Scylla and Charybdis."

A Blind Stripling Bloom reveals his charitable nature in "The Lestrygonians" by helping this young man cross the street; later, the youth turns up as the blind piano tuner in "The Sirens." The stripling is bumped into by Lamppost Farrell in "The Wandering Rocks."

Leopold Bloom Joyce's 20th-century Odysseus-Ulysses figure; his wife is Molly, and he is an ad canvasser for the Freeman's Journal. For further discussion, see Character Analyses.

Marcus J. Bloom This Bloom is the dental surgeon mentioned in "The Wandering Rocks." He is no relation to the protagonist, and his name provides one of the "traps" in the episode.

Milly Bloom Bloom's 15-year-old daughter (See Alec Bannon); she is attractive, as is her mother, and she is apparently also a bit hefty. Although she is dating Bannon, she has not yet lost her virginity, even though her mother is "corrupted" by Boylan on June 16. Milly is a feisty lass, and often Molly has had to curb her insolence. Bloom's thoughts of Milly emphasize his stress concerning the passing of time: Milly is experiencing her first love at approximately the same age as Molly experienced hers, with Lieutenant Mulvey on Gibraltar.

Molly Bloom Joyce's earth goddess, she is similar to Chaucer's Wife of Bath. Although her appearance in Ulysses occupies only a small part of the novel, her presence is felt throughout. For further discussion, see Character Analyses.

Rudolph Bloom Bloom's father, born Rudolph Virag sometime between 1807 and 1816; he died in 1886. Bloom's planned trip to Ennis to commemorate the anniversary of his father's death will prevent him from being with Boylan and Molly during the upcoming concert tour to Belfast. Rudolph became despondent after his wife's death and finally poisoned himself.

Rudy Bloom Bloom's son, who was born December 29, 1893, and who died January 9, 1894. Molly and Bloom have not had complete sexual intercourse since Rudy's death, and Rudy is indeed the last of the Virag-Bloom line. Rudy appears in a vision to Bloom at the end of "Circe" at the age he would have been had he lived.

Senor A. Boudin Possibly the true name of the swaggering sailor W.B. Murphy, who appears in "Eumaeus."

Blazes Boylan He is a singer, the owner of a prize fighter, and a "bill sticker"; Boylan has sex with Molly sometime shortly after 4:00 p.m. on June 16, 1904. For further discussion, see CharacterAnalyses.

Denis Breen Husband of Josie Breen, a half-mad eccentric who has received a postcard with "U.P.: up" written on it; he spends a good deal of time trying to find the lawyer Menton in order to file a lawsuit against the unknown jokester. Breen is ridiculed in "The Cyclops" as he passes Barney Kiernan's pub.

Davy Byrne He runs a "moral" pub, to which Bloom escapes in "The Lestrygonians" to have a glass of burgundy and a cheese sandwich after he has left the swinish eaters at the restaurant of the Burton Hotel. He and Nosey Flynn think of Bloom as a decent, quiet man.

Cissy Caffrey Gerty MacDowell's friend in "Nausicaa," who abets Gerty in the "seduction" of Bloom.

Private Harry Carr He taunts Stephen at the beginning of "Circe" and then knocks him down near the end of that episode when he lets himself believe that Stephen is threatening the king. His companion is Private Compton.

The Citizen This gross, ardently nationalistic anti-Semite, who can see reality with only one eye, is Joyce's modern-day equivalent of a cyclops. He throws a biscuit tin at Bloom at the end of "The Cyclops" as Bloom escapes in a "chariot" and ascends into "heaven." The Citizen is based on Michael ("Citizen") Cusack (1847-1907), whose purpose in life was to revive Gaelic games in Ireland.

Martha Clifford Bloom's pen pal and platonic lover, with whom he corresponds under the pseudonym Henry Flower. Martha is one of at least 44 respondents to Bloom's ad: "Wanted smart lady typist to aid gentleman in literary work." She is one of the mysteries in Ulysses since her name is undoubtedly false.

Mrs. Clinch A respectable woman whom Bloom once almost accosted, thinking that she was a prostitute.

Cochrane An inattentive student whom Stephen calls on at the start of his class in Mr. Deasy's school in "Nestor."

Father Francis Coffey He performs the Absolution during the burial service of Paddy Dignam in Glasnevin Cemetery in "Hades." He corresponds to Cerberus, the mythical dog that guards the entrance to Hell, or Hades.

Bella Cohen Joyce's parallel to Homer's Circe, who turns men into swine. She tries to cheat Stephen during the Nighttown Episode, but Bloom saves Stephen's money by threatening to reveal that Bella is financing her son's way through Oxford by her earnings from prostitution. Bella becomes Bello (masculine) during Bloom's major masochistic "hallucination" in "Circe."

Father John Conmee, S. J. The rector of Clongowes Wood College who saved Stephen from a beating in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; he appears in "The Wandering Rocks," when he reminisces about his days at Clongowes.

John Corley From "Two Gallants" in Dubliners. Corley sponges money from Stephen as Stephen and Bloom are heading for the cabman's shelter in "Eumaeus."

"Father" Bob Cowley A spoiled priest, "Father" Cowley is one of the illusions in "The Wandering Rocks!' since he is called by his first name, Bob, an odd appellation for a priest.

Cranly Stephen's close friend in Book Five of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. In that novel, he serves a role similar to Buck Mulligan's in Ulysses.

Myles Crawford Editor of the Evening Telegraph; he rejects the compromise made between Bloom and Alexander Keyes over the ad for the House of Keyes (Keys), and his blithe (and drunken) attitude costs Bloom his main monetary gain of June 16.

J. T. A. Crofton From "Ivy Day in the Committee Room" in Dubliners. At the end of "The Cyclops," he escapes from the Citizen-Cyclops along with Bloom, Martin Cunningham, and Jack Power in Cunningham's carriage.

Martin Cunningham A sometimes kindly man who, on the way to Glasnevin Cemetery, tries to steer the conversation away from suicides (See Bloom's father). After leaving Barney Kiernan's in "The Cyclops," he and Bloom go to the Dignams' house to discuss Paddy's insurance with his widow.

Dan Dawson His speech sentimentalizing Ireland as a land of purling rills is soundly ridiculed in "Aeolus."

Mr. Garrett Deasy Headmaster of the school in Dalkey, where Stephen teaches; Deasy is anti-Semitic, stingy, anti-female, and pro-British. He corresponds to Nestor, the windbag orator of Homer's Odyssey.

Boody Dedalus Stephen's starving sister who calls her father, Simon, "Our father who art not in heaven."

Dilly Dedalus In a pathetic attempt to extricate herself from the family squalor, this sister of Stephen's buys a copy of Chardenal's French Primer. Bloom sees her as a poor, hungry child who stands outside auction rooms while her father is drinking in pubs.

Maggy Dedalus Another impoverished sister of Stephen; she fails to convince a pawn shop to accept her brother's books.

Mrs. May (Mary) Dedalus Stephen's refusal to pray at his mother's deathbed occasions his major guilt in Ulysses. His mother appears to him in "Circe," begging him to repent and to return to the Church. In an act of rebellion, Stephen smashes the brothel chandelier with his ashplant (walking stick) in "Circe."

Simon Dedalus Stephen's alcoholic father; he counters neglect of his family with a fine sense of humor, a clear critical eye, and an excellent singing voice.

Stephen Dedalus Joyce's bright, creative, but perplexed young hero, whose story begins in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. For further discussion, see Character Analyses.

Charles-Paul de Kock French novelist (1794-1871) who wrote trashy books for the lower-middle class. Molly thinks that he probably acquired his name because of his sexual proclivities.

Paddy (Patrick) Dignam His death is the reason why Bloom is at Glasnevin Cemetery ("Hades") and the reason why Bloom is dressed in black throughout the day. Another drunken Dubliner, Dignam corresponds to Odysseus's inebriated retainer, Elpenor, who, in Homer's epic, broke his neck in a fall from the roof of Circe's house.

Master Patrick Dignam The main interest of Dignam's son in his father's death is that he might get some time off from school and can become a celebrity for awhile.

Mat Dillon His home provided a meeting place for Bloom and Molly in 1887 when they were going together. Also, it was at Dillon's that Bloom bested Menton at bowls, an affront that the solicitor never forgot.

Dr. Dixon On May 23, 1904, Dixon treated Bloom for a bee sting, this wound in the side becoming a Christocentric symbol in Ulysses.

Moses Dlugacz At the shop of this pork butcher, Bloom (in "Calypso") buys a kidney for breakfast. Also, at Dlugacz's, Bloom ogles the buxom servant girl of the Blooms' next door neighbors, the Woods, although he is unable to follow her after she leaves the store.

Reuben J. Dodd A stingy legal accountant who is the butt of a joke among Cunningham, Power, Simon Dedalus, and Bloom on the way to Glasnevin Cemetery.

Ben Dollard An overweight singer who gives a rendition of the patriotic ballad "The Croppy Boy" in "The Sirens." Molly once punned on Dollard's size, saying that he had a nice "barreltone" voice.

Bob Doran From "The Boarding House" in Dubliners. Doran is on his annual drinking binge in Ulysses, and his sinister, drunken antics in "The Cyclops" help to establish the macabre tone of the episode.

Lydia Douce One of Joyce's sirens in "The Sirens," Lydia Douce is a barmaid at the Ormond Hotel. Her observation that Bloom has "greasy eyes" relates him to Christ since the word is pronounced "grace-y" in Dublin. The other siren at the Ormond is Mina Kennedy.

Mary Driscoll A maid at the Blooms' whom Molly dismissed on a false charge when Bloom began taking an interest in her.

Earl of Dudley (William Humble Ward) The cavalcade of this Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to open the Mirus Bazaar is one of the structuring devices of "The Wandering Rocks."

Kevin Egan A self-exiled Irish patriot whom Stephen meets in Paris before the start of Ulysses.

John Eglinton (William Kirkpatrick Magee) Influential Anglo-Irish essayist who patronizes Stephen during Stephen's discussion of Shakespeare in "Scylla and Charybdis."

Lamppost (Cashel Boyle O'Connor Fitzmaurice Tisdall) Farrell A Dublin eccentric known for his wild clothes and for his habit of walking outside of lampposts. Farrell is sitting in the National Library's reading room during the discussion of Shakespeare in "Scylla and Charybdis."

James (Skin-the-Goat) Fitzharris He drove the decoy car after the Phoenix Park Assassinations of 1882. The cabman's shelter to which Bloom and Stephen go in "Eumaeus" is said to be operated by him (but probably is not).

"Henry Flower" Bloom's alias in his correspondence with Martha Clifford.

Nosey Flynn From "Counterparts" in Dubliners. A frequenter of Davy Byrne's, who praises Bloom in "The Lestrygonians."

Ignatius Gallaher From "A Little Cloud" in Dubliners. The star reporter discussed in the newspaper offices in "Aeolus," Gallaher broke the story of the Phoenix Park Assassinations, possibly (Joyce implies) by infiltrating the group of Irish extremists.

Lieutenant Stanley G. Gardner Discussed in "Penelope," Gardner is probably the only person (besides Bloom and Boylan) who has complete sexual intercourse with Molly during her marriage. If the affair did take place, it happened between 1899 and 1901. Gardner died of fever in South Africa during the Boer War.

Garryowen The large dog that menaces Bloom in Barney Kiernan's pub in "The Cyclops." It belongs to Gerty MacDowell's grandfather, Giltrap.

Uncle Richie Goulding Stephen's uncle, whom he considers visiting in "Proteus." Simon Dedalus intensely dislikes his brother-in-law, who has been ruined by drink and who forms a pathetic figure as he eats with Bloom (another outcast) in "The Sirens."

Haines The patronizing, anti-Semitic Oxonian who rooms with Mulligan and Stephen in the Martello Tower. Haines, who has come to Ireland to study Irish folklore, simplistically asserts that all of Ireland's troubles are attributable to "history," not to British misuse.

Charles Wisdom Hely The Dublin stationer and printer for whom Bloom used to work. Men advertising his business appear in "The Lestrygonians," walking about wearing scarlet letters on large white hats.

Ellen Higgins Bloom's mother, who married Rudolph Bloom, about 1865.

Zoe Higgins A prostitute in "Circe" who takes away Bloom's talisman, a potato, which corresponds to Odysseus's moly (the herb that prevented Odysseus from being turned into a swine by Circe).

Dr. Andrew J. Horne One of the superintendents of Dublin's National Maternity Hospital, the setting for "The Oxen of the Sun."

Joe Hynes From "Ivy Day in the Committee Room" in Dubliners. Vaguely associated with the Freeman's journal and the Evening Telegraph, Hynes unwittingly includes several bits of false information in his report of Paddy Dignam's funeral. Although Hynes owes Bloom money (for which Bloom has asked him three times), Hynes appears in "The Cyclops" and buys drinks for himself and others.

Georgina Johnson A prostitute upon whom Stephen spent the pound that he had borrowed from George Russell (A.E.). The loan is the basis for the execrable pun on Russell's appellation: "A.E.I.O.U."

Kathleen Kearney From "A Mother" in Dubliners. A rising songstress of whom Ily is jealous.

Corny Kelleher Works for an undertaker and is rumored to have underworld connections. In "The Wandering Rocks," Kelleher spits out a "silent jet of hayjuice," and in "Circe," he refuses to take Stephen home after Private Carr has knocked him down.

Alexander Keyes The tea merchant with whom Bloom negotiates the placing of an ad in the Freeman's Journal. Keyes will grant a two-month renewal of the ad in exchange for a free paragraph "puffing" his establishment in Freeman's. Myles Crawford, the editor, insists on three months, and Bloom is caught in the middle.

Barney Kiernan The Cyclops Episode takes place in his pub and begins just before 5:00 p.m.

"Kinch" Stephen's nickname; the sound of the word is probably suggestive of the cutting sound made by a knife, a reference to Stephen's sharp Aristotelian logic.

Ned Lambert One of the discussants at the Freeman's office during "Aeolus." He and Simon Dedalus leave the others for a drink at The Oval.

Lunita Laredo Molly's mother, who married Major Brian Cooper Tweedy. She was a Spanish Jewess and probably somewhat "fast." There are hints in Ulysses that Lunita and Tweedy were not really married and that Molly thus may be illegitimate (another mystery in the novel).

T.Lenehan From "Two Gallants." Lenehan apologizes with exaggerated politeness when he collides with Bloom in the Freeman's offices, helps spread the rumor that Bloom is betting on Throwaway in the Ascot Gold Cup race, and is "put down" by M'Coy (in "The Wandering Rocks") when he (Lenehan) boasts of once taking liberties with Molly.

Vincent Lynch A friend of Stephen's who accompanies him to Nighttown in "Circe" and later deserts him in the brothel area. Lynch is a Judas figure in Ulysses.

Bantam Lyons From "Ivy Day in the Committee Room." Spreads the false information that Bloom has bet on the horse Throwaway when (in "The Lotus-Eaters") Bloom tells him that he is going to throw away his copy of the Freeman's Journal and that Lyons can have it. Lyons passes the false tip to Davy Byrne and Nosey Flynn in "The Lestrygonians" and later to Lenehan.

Thomas William Lyster The "Quaker Librarian" who appears in the National Library in "Scylla and Charybdis" and discusses aesthetics with Stephen and others.

Florence MacCabe An old woman whom Stephen sees on the beach in "Proteus"; probably the same Florence MacCabe who figures in Stephen's Parable of the Plums. In both cases, Stephen calls the woman this name.

Gerty MacDowell Joyce's Nausicaa, who entices Bloom into masturbating when she reveals her upper thigh and underwear in Joyce's 13th episode.

Professor Hugh MacHugh One of the principals in the newspaper offices in "Aeolus," MacHugh underlines the theme of Ireland's bondage to Britain.

Man in the Macintosh A mysterious figure who turns up at Dignam's funeral. Hynes, mishearing a remark by Bloom in "Hades," has him appear as a person named M'Intosh in the Telegraph article.

Mrs. Mastiansky A friend of Molly's. In "Penelope," Molly alludes to the unusual sexual practices of Mr. Mastiansky.

C. P. M'Coy A strange Dubliner who is in the habit of borrowing valises and then pawning them. Although he does not show up at Dignam's funeral, he is reported to have been there in Hynes's newspaper story.

John Henry Menton A solicitor who is ruffled in "Hades" when Bloom points out a dent in his hat. Menton was once a rival for Molly's affections, and, in 1887, at Mat Dillon's, Bloom bested him at a game of bowls.

George Robert Mesias Bloom's tailor who once explained that Bloom was hard to fit since both his testicles were on the right side. Bloom became acquainted with Boylan at Mesias's shop in September, 1903.

George Moore Well-known Irish novelist. It is revealed in "Scylla and Charybdis" that Stephen has not been invited to Moore's get-together on the evening of June 16, even though Mulligan and Haines have been asked to come to the literary discussion.

Buck Mulligan The complex alter ego of Stephen; he is witty, cynical, and blasphemous, but he is also courageous. Mulligan "baits" Stephen several times in Ulysses and, finally, he apparently has a physical scuffle with him before Stephen leaves for the brothel district. At the end of Ulysses, Mulligan and Haines return to the Martello Tower, and the now homeless Stephen finds that his place has been irrevocably usurped by this Dublin medical student.

Lieutenant Harry Mulvey Molly's first love, when she was fifteen, on Gibraltar. In "Penelope," Molly remembers masturbating him into a handkerchief, and she wonders what he is doing now.

W. B. Murphy A sailor who appears in the cabman's shelter in "Eumaeus"; the drunken red-bearded Murphy is Joyce's embodiment of the Returning Wanderer. He is apparently from the three-master Rosevean, which Stephen sees at the end of "Proteus."

Joseph Patrick Nannetti Foreman of the Freeman's who half-listens to Bloom's problems over the Keyes's ad, then leaves Dublin for the House of Commons, having settled nothing about the exchange.

J. J. O'Molloy One of the cronies at the newspaper office in "Aeolus." He opens a door and strikes Bloom (accidently); there is no room for Bloom in this "inn."

Charles Stewart Parnell The great Irish nationalist whose fall influenced so much of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses. Parnell's demise began in 1890, when details of his relationship with Kitty O'Shea, his mistress, were revealed in the O'Shea divorce trial. He died in 1891. Myths surrounding Parnell are discussed most prominently in "Eumaeus."

Pat the Waiter In "The Sirens," Pat is described as being "a waiter who waits while you wait." At this point, Bloom too is "waiting" — for the adultery of Boylan and Molly to begin.

Jack Power His unknowing comments about suicides on the way to Dignam's funeral embarrass Bloom, although Martin Cunningham tries to console him. Later, Bloom meets with Cunningham, Power, and Crofton in Barney Kiernan's pub ("The Cyclops").

Mina Purefoy Mrs. "Purefaith" has lain three days in labor, and her new son is finally born in "The Oxen of the Sun." Her husband's name is Theodore ("God-given").

Mrs. "Dante" Riordan Stephen's tutor in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; she is also a friend of the Blooms. Molly ridicules her in "Penelope" because Mrs. Riordan didn't leave them a bequest.

Harry Rumbold A barber-hangman whose application for the post of executioner is discussed at length in "The Cyclops."

George Russell (A. E.) Theosophist and man of letters whose stress upon the essences and ultimate forms of things in his discussion of Shakespeare in "Scylla and Charybdis" casts him as "Plato," in contrast to Stephen, who is "Aristotle." Bloom sees Russell bicycling in "The Lestrygonians," accompanied by Lizzie Twigg, the young woman whom Bloom rejected for the typist position in favor of Martha Clifford.

Cyril Sargent A sniveling student in Stephen's class at Mr. Deasy's school, who (because of his ineptitude) reminds Stephen of his own school days at Clongowes.

Sceptre The horse which Boylan bets on that loses the Gold Cup race. See Throwaway.

The Shan Van Vocht The Poor Old Woman who personifies downtrodden Ireland, but who will become a beautiful queen when the country takes its rightful place in the world. Joyce's parody of this mythic creature is embodied in this old lady who brings milk to the Martello Tower in "Telemachus."

F. W. Sweny The druggist from whom Bloom buys a bar of lemon soap, but Bloom forgets to return to the druggist's shop to pick up Molly's skin lotion.

Talbot A cheating student in Stephen's class at Deasy's school.

Tatters A dog which Stephen sees on the beach in "Proteus"; Stephen wonders if the animal is digging up his (the dog's) grandmother. Tatters typifies the "God-dog" theme in Ulysses.

John F. Taylor A famous Dublin orator whose speech of October 24, 1901, in favor of reviving Gaelic is praised in "Aeolus."

Throwaway The dark horse who wins the 1904 Gold Cup race, besting Sceptre, Boylan's choice. Like Throwaway, Bloom has been "thrown away" by Molly, but he may yet end by winning over Boylan. It is the mistaken belief that Bloom has won on the race that causes him trouble in "The Cyclops," when the men at Barney Kiernan's pub wonder why Bloom won't stand them to drinks to celebrate his gains. See Bantam Lyons.

Major Brian Cooper Tweedy Molly's hard-drinking, pipe-smoking father, who was stationed on Gibraltar when she was born. Whether or not Tweedy was a major at all and not just a sergeant-major, and whether or not he is indeed Molly's father through a union with Lunita Laredo are two of the mysteries of Ulysses.

Lizzie Twigg Applicant for the job of typist in response to Bloom's ad, whom Bloom turns down because he thinks she might be too arty. Twigg was an actual poetess and an associate of George Russell (A. E.).

Virag The name of Bloom's father, grandfather, and great grandfather. Bloom's father changed his name to "Bloom," from "Virag," which means "flower"in Hungarian.

Reggie Wylie Gerty MacDowell's boyfriend, with whom she has had a spat, probably making her more enthusiastic about "seducing" Bloom in "Nausicaa."